Need New Shoes?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1170253/The-painful-truth-trainers-Are-expensive-running-shoes-waste-money.html

I think I would still prefer to wear shoes.

Speed

Out with the hills and in with the speed. We had our talk about speed training and so we are basically supposed to run as fast as we can. Easy yes? Sounds like it, but we have to do that for 2 1/2 laps (1km) of the track. We warmed up by running about 2.5km to the track and then stretched a bit and then the horses were off. I started off first but could hear everyone's feet behind me. I tried hard not to let anyone pass me (I'm not competitive ;) ) but I also knew I didn't want to injure myself. I was trying to go at a 4:42 pace as that is what is recommended for a 3:45 marathon finish. After lap 1 I ended up running it at a 4:00 pace. The 2nd lap (and last) I ended up running at a 3:52. So maybe finishing the marathon with a 3:45 is in my reach.

Now I am off to heat, roll and stretch.

Race Route

I ran the first half of the marathon route. It started downtown at City Hall and took us through Hull and back, then along Sussex past the PM Harper's house and through Rockcliffe. There are so many nice houses in along Rockcliffe including the Governor General's, it was a little confusing as the roads twisted and turned so much but we found our way through there. I didn't get lost until we came out of there and the map said to go one way while everyone else said to go the other way. Slight detour. Then we went along Beechwood past the cemetary where the soldiers are laid to rest and back along Sussex to City Hall again. It was a nice route once we got back to the Ontario side, and I felt pretty good during it.

I think that things are going to go well for me, at least I keep telling myself that, but I feel more confident and positive after each run. Only a few more long runs left now.

I have reached the 32 km mark of my training, we have been building it up to this for a couple of months now and it has finally arrived. I am quite happy that it happened on the long Easter weekend because then it gave us the option of running on Saturday morning and still having a weekend to enjoy. It started off really cool and windy but as we progressed I felt better about wearing my capris and wind vest, I even shed my vest when we stopped at City Hall.

I have stopped taking Advil before my runs and I have had no problems so far, not too much pain either. I know which gels I like although I am still trying out some new ones, it seems like any GU ones are preferred and the tastes agree with me too. I am also taking my eLoad capsules regularly and I find they help me and prevent any stitches in my side that I used to get frequently.

Next week we have a shorter run of 23 km and so we are meeting downtown to run the 1/2 Marathon route of the race. I hope this sunny weather stays for a while longer. Wed is my last night of hills (10) I am looking forward to that.

Another 29km down. Today was a pretty tough run, we did the same route as last week but in reverse so we basically had the wind towards us for most of the second half of our run. It was especially strong as we were going along the Ottawa river. I felt like I was going backwards at times. Once we got back onto the main roads it was better. I tried something new for this week's run, I did not take any Advil before running as was advised and I was fine so maybe I took them before for psychological reasons. Who knows really, I also didn't have as much pain as last week's run, it may be because of the ART or just that my body is getting used to running more distances. I also used the heating pad and foam roller as part of my stretching this afternoon.

Next week is Easter so my group and I are going out for a run on Saturday morning instead of Sunday, we are running our first 32km. I have never ran that far in my training but I trust everything will go well and hope that the weather will be on our side that day.

ART

I went for my first ART session this evening, I learned a lot and realized I am not bad off as I thought I was. The pain in my knee is not so bad and can easily be resolved, I may make some changes in the future on my running technique but overall I should be good to go. I plan to go back in about a week to see how my LSD goes this weekend (another 29). I thought it was going to be a very painful procedure from what a lot of people have said but I didn't find it to be that way, it was uncomfortable but not so painful maybe I just have a a good threshold of pain.

I chose not to run tonight but will make it up over the next few days, although I probably should have since it was such a nice day 13°C but I wasn't too sure if would be a good idea. Oh and I plan to not take Advil before my runs anymore as it is not a good idea but if I have to I will take Tylenol after or during. I was told.

Let's see how this weekend's run goes :)

I am almost done with the hill section of my training, tonight we ran 8 repeats and I can now say that I will miss them when we are finished. I know that I have said earlier that I am not fond of them but the same thing happened last year, they grew on me. I am not feeling as strong lately but I think that has to do with all the increases in our distances, we are running another 29km this Sunday and then we are up to 32km before we decrease a bit and then work our way up again. Tomorrow I am going for my massage so hopefully he can "fix" me and then I can have a pain free run on Sunday. We shall see.